The present paper describes and quantifies the behavior of a Zn-Al anticorrosive coating deposited on the surface of a steel wire before its drawing process. For the complete evaluation of this behavior, the drawing of these samples was performed on four wiredrawing lines, differing by the deformation angle 2 · α of the component dies of each line. For good agreement with industrial practice, the drawing series used a partial reduction of the section of 20%. Two aspects were analyzed: the evolution of the chemical composition and the structure of the removed layer during the drawing of the coated steel wire, and the drawing force necessary to carry out this process. This article helps to elucidate how the Zn-Al anti-corrosion layer responds to the stresses inherent in the process of drawing the steel wire on which it is deposited.
Keywords: Zn-Al alloy; coating; crystallization system; drawing force; loss by drawing; steel wiredrawing.